Once Busy, Now Superfluous, Downtown Site Needs Project

NEWPORT NEWS — Standing at the window of her downtown office, Kiddy Starboard looks across the grassy field on Washington Avenue and thinks of her childhood.

In those days, the vapid four-block area now known as the "Superblock," was bustling with shops, restaurants and offices. On one corner stood the five-story First National Bank, where Starboard remembers opening her first savings account. A block away was the electric company's headquarters, a building where she attended some Girl Scout meetings.

"That was the big place for commerce," Starboard recalls. "I remember it was very busy."

But the past 20 years haven't been kind to the site. Like other parts of downtown, the 5.3-acre patch bordered by 26th and 28th streets and Washington and West avenues lost its businesses one by one until there was nothing left.

Over the years the city has tried to revive the Superblock, but with no luck. Even its name is ridiculed by some critics who complain that there's nothing super about it.

But officials haven't given up hope that someday there will be.

Like a trainer with his horse, the city has begun grooming the block and prepping it for show. There are new trees, new grass and a 100-space parking lot that, if nothing else, gives people a reason to go there.

Now the Planning and Development Department is actively marketing the site for development. A few months ago the department printed a four-page brochure highlighted by a color aerial photo of the Superblock and surrounding properties.

Atop the photo is a message: "A Million Dollar Corner is Waiting to Appear At the Center of Hampton Roads In Downtown Newport News."

Although the photo was taken in the winter, when the trees were leafless and the grass was greenish-brown, officials say developers and company executives who see it won't care about that.

Being vacant, the Superblock does serve as central downtown's only open green space. It's not used very much on a daily basis, but it is the site of the city's annual Fourth of July celebration.

"When I came here, that thing was just a dustbowl. There was nothing there," City Manager Edgar E. Maroney said. "Now at least it's green. There should be a place in downtown where you can take 20 minutes and just walk around."

Maroney is willing to forfeit that, however, if it means developing the site and creating jobs and taxes. "I want to keep it green. But if I could get a 10- or 20-story insurance company down there, I'd give up on the green."

Maroney said residents will be able to enjoy open green space a couple of blocks toward the river, where his Victory Landing waterfront park is slated to go.

In the 1950s and early 1960s, the Superblock was in its heyday. Long-time residents remember a Western Union telegraph office, Harper's shoe store, the Royal Grill restaurant, Victor's Men Shop and a variety of apartments and professional offices.

In the late 1960s the city's population was moving north and to the suburbs, and the business followed. Buildings became vacant and dilapidated. People were no longer scurrying through that part of downtown.

The city developed a plan to revive the block in 1967 that envisioned a hotel, high-rise office towers and a parking garage. It never happened.

Eventually the city bought the property, a piece at a time, and knocked down all the structures. For years the city sought developers for the block, but there was no interest. Until 1982.

That is when the city entered into Newport Centre, another grand redevelopment plan that barely got off the ground. In that project, the Superblock was supposed to become a hotel and cultural center.

Today, the city is pinning its hopes on the completion of the Interstate 664 bridge-tunnel to Suffolk. Officials say that will create a need for restaurants, motels and even office buildings on the Superblock, which is two blocks away from the 26th Street exit ramp.

Miller said a couple of people have expressed interest in building condominiums on part of the Superblock, but the city doesn't think that's the best use and wants to hold out for better.

"If you can guarantee me that in the next 20 years we'd never have something better, then I'd say give me the successful condos," Miller said. "But we don't know that yet."

Maroney agrees. "It would be ludicrous to give away the store at this point."

TIME LINE

Thirty years in the life of the Superblock:

1959: Block is at its peak; restaurants, stores and office buildings are at capacity.